


The Cottage

by dubusaur



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29696115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dubusaur/pseuds/dubusaur
Summary: Mina didn't renew her JYPE contract and ghosted all the members after returning to Japan. Chaeyoung takes a break from her schedule to find out what's going on with Mina.
Relationships: Myoui Mina/Son Chaeyoung
Kudos: 13





	The Cottage

In the year 2022, TWICE’s contracts were up for renewal and every member except Mina renewed their contract. Citing anxiety and no longer wanting to live an idol life, Mina returned to Japan.

TWICE continued as an eight-member group, but the team spirit was not quite the same as when it was OT9.

Chaeyoung was hit the hardest by Mina’s departure and she sometimes became emotionally unstable. She would lash out at group members over the most trivial things and her coping mechanism was to get more tattoos. It was similar to people who binge eat. This was all very unlike the cool and carefree Chae that everyone knew.

Since returning to Japan, Mina had not responded to any of the group member’s chats and stopped using social media. Chae was worried about Mina and decided to pay her a visit. She took a leave of absence from TWICE and prepared for her trip.

Upon arriving in Japan, Mina’s parents informed Chae that Mina was no longer in Japan. But they would not reveal Mina’s whereabouts. Disappointed, Chae returned to South Korea.

One day, Chae headed to Jihyo’s room to chat and noticed a letter on her desk, with the writing on the envelope unmistakably belonging to Mina.

After a brief hesitation, Jihyo decided to tell Chae about Mina’s condition. Mina had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and only had months to live and her reasons for leaving TWICE were a lie. Mina’s father brought her to the best hospitals to receive chemotherapy, but the cancer had spread too far.

Mina could no longer stand watching her parents so sad and requested to move to a monastery to live out her final days alone. Her parents refused at first, but Mina was persistent and would not take no for an answer. Reluctantly, the family said their final goodbyes and Mina’s father arranged for her to stay at the monastery that he donated a large amount of money to annually.

The monastery set Mina up in their best guest room and the nuns there took good care of her. In her current state, Mina was quite weak and spent a lot of time sleeping. She brought along her dog, Ray to keep her company.

At first, Mina wasn’t planning on telling anyone about her condition because she could not bear to see her loved ones sad. Later, Mina relented and decided to tell someone about her situation. She thought it would bring her peace and closure by not having everything all bottled up inside her. She wanted to tell Chae, but could not build up the courage to write to her because she had a secret crush on her all these years. She chose to write a letter to Jihyo and like the promise she made her parents make, she asked Jihyo not to disclose the content of the letter to anyone.

Mina felt she could trust Jihyo. They were roommates in their new dorm and really close buddies. They played soccer together and the two have similar personalities.

Jihyo felt that she had to tell Chae about Mina, or she would regret it for the rest of her life.

Upon hearing the news, Chae was devastated and started balling in front of Jihyo. It took Chae the good part of a day to calm down and she eventually fell asleep in Jihyo’s bed.

The next day, Chae felt a lot better and re-read the letter to look for clues relating to Mina’s whereabouts. To her astonishment, Mina had used writing paper that belonged to the monastery and on the bottom in tiny letters were the name and address of the place where she stayed.

Mina was currently residing at a monastery located deep in the mountains of Jeju Island. And with that, Chae pack her belongings and booked a flight to the island.

It took Chae a whole day to bus and hike up to the monastery. It was a very peaceful place and surprisingly, there weren’t that many inhabitants. Only a few monks, nuns, and miscellaneous maintenance staff resided inside.

When Chae arrived at the door, no one was around to greet her, so she wandered around. It was quite cold up in this part of the island, especially since it was winter time. Luckily Chae wore a heavy coat. There were clear skies and birds could be heard chirping.

After walking around, Chae finally spotted a nun about Mina’s height. She was bald, but walked with a penguin waddle exactly like Mina’s walking posture.

Wait! That IS Mina!

Shocked and surprised, an adrenaline rush started to spread through Chae’s entire body.

She dashed forward in a sprint towards the girl and yelled out “Mina!”

The bald girl turned around and sure enough, it was her!

Mina’s eyes opened wide and she was taken aback. In a panic, she started to run!

In the hurry, Mina tripped clumsily over her feet and spilled her basin of hot water onto the ground.

Chae caught up to Mina and saw her sprawled face down on the ground. She turned Mina around to see if she was okay and saw tears in her eyes.

Seeing Mina like that, Chae’s first instinct was to hug her tightly. They stayed like that for five minutes, both sobbing uncontrollably.

They eventually calmed down and headed to Mina’s room to talk. Her room was located in the highest quarters of the monastery. To access the bed, you had to walk up a flight of steps inside the room. Beside the bed was an enormous window that looked out to the mountains. Mina’s 15-year-old dog, Ray was sleeping in his cushion.

Mina was upset that Jihyo had disclosed her location to Chae. But afterwards, Mina had a change of heart and was grateful for what Jihyo had done.

Chae explained that she knew everything about Mina’s condition. With nothing to hide, Mina felt a weight lift off her shoulders and she was no longer afraid of dying alone. She now had Chae by her side, even if she was only visiting.

Chae was really sad to see Mina looking so weak and skinny. She had lost a lot of weight and her bald head was due to hair loss from chemotherapy. Chae held onto Mina’s hands and looked into her eyes.

“Everything is going to be okay, Mina unnie” smiled Chae.

Mina was very happy to hear those words.

===========================

The next day while Mina was taking an afternoon nap, Chae asked a nun to shave her head.

“Are you sure” asked the surprised nun.

“Yes, please Sister. Risky risky, wiggy wigi, this is an emergency. I am going to make a wig for Mina using my hair” smiled Chae.

Later that day, Chae showed her bald head to Mina who couldn’t stop laughing. But she was also angry at Chae for being so reckless.

“I shaved it, so that you wouldn’t be so self conscious of your appearance. You kept saying how ugly you look with that bald head. You will always look pretty, Mina.”

===========================

Even with Chae by her side, Mina realized that she was getting close to the end. Since she still had a bit of strength left, Mina wanted to go on one last trip with Chae.

There was a little cottage by the waterfall a short walk away. Mina suggested that the two of them go on a little trip. An ecstatic Chae agreed right away.

They packed their belongings early one morning. Chae insisted on using a wooden wheelbarrow to transport Mina to the cottage, so she wouldn’t be so tired. It was a crude way to transport someone, but they had to make do with what the monastery had.

The image of a small Chae pushing a heavy wheelbarrow made Mina chuckle. Eventually, Mina fell asleep and Chae continued to wheel on in silence. It was so peaceful up here in the mountains compared to the city. Ray slowly tagged along.

They finally arrived at the cottage and started to set up. It was a little place that the monks and nuns built for guests or residents who wanted to spend a few days away from the monastery. There was no electricity or running water, so it was a very simple building.

Mina was responsible for some light cleaning and sweeping while Chae went and fetched firewood from the back of the cottage.

There was a little fireplace in one corner of the cottage to keep them warm. For dinner, they ate the food they packed that morning. There were bulgogi with rice, yukhoe beef, and omurice with ketchup. For dessert, they had strawberries.

That night, Mina, Chae, and Ray sat by the fireplace in rocking chairs and chatted until Mina fell asleep. Chae quietly brushed Mina’s head like a mother and gently carried her to her bed.

Chae then laid down in the bed opposite Mina’s and spent a long time just staring at Mina’s calm sleeping figure. With a bittersweet feeling, Chae slowly drifted to sleep too.

==========================

The next day, a couple of monks from the monastery brought some food for Chae and Mina, so they could stay at the cottage longer. Chae and Mina were really grateful and thanked the monks profusely.

The two spent the days hiking and visiting the beautiful waterfall nearby. Mina also knitted at night while Chae used her hair that was shaved off to make a wig for Mina.

The completed wig fit Mina’s head perfectly and made her look like the wig she wore in TWICE Private Life when she acted out the Reply 1988 character, Duk-Sun.

This was the happiest time of their lives, away from the bustling stress of idol life.

==========================

After spending a few days at the cottage, the trio of Mina, Chae, and Ray returned to the monastery.

Mina tried to hide the fact that the trip had left her exhausted. She had spent a great deal of energy hiking and staying awake even when she was tired.

But there was no hiding it anymore. Chae could see through Mina’s disguise since they had been living together for many years during their dorm life. Chae kept her observations to herself and pretended everything was normal.

Over the weeks, Mina became weaker and weaker. She spent more time sleeping and her appetite was getting worse. Chae spent every waking moment beside Mina’s bed except when she had to cook her meals and prepare water to help her bathe.

===========================

Today was a nice and sunny day and Chae decided to take Mina for a light stroll outdoors. This time, Chae wheeled her out in a wheelchair instead of a wheelbarrow. It would be the last time that Mina felt the warmth of the sun basking on her face.

A few weeks later, Mina was close to her last breath. She had been deliberating this whole time whether to tell Chae how she truly felt about her. In the end, she decided that she had to do it.

“Chaeyoung, th-there’s something I w-want to say.”

Chae was sensing that Mina was close to her end. Mina’s voice was so soft and quiet right now that she would surely win in the ASMR punishment game.

Chae got close to Mina’s face to hear what she had to say.

“P-please don’t get offended by what I’m about to say. I’ve always really loved you, in a romantic way. When we were still trainees in JYP, I already had crush on you. I-it was hard to watch you dating other guys during our time in TWICE. But I didn’t have the courage to confess my love. I love you, Chaeyoung.”

Chae was taken aback by this confession, but tried her best not to show her surprise. She smiled, but thoughts were racing through her mind.

Chae had always treated Mina as her best friend. And there was nothing more than that, right? Their love was a sisterly love and nothing more, right? If so, then why was there this conflicting feeling in her heart?

It was at that moment Chae realized that her feelings for Mina all along wasn’t just a love of friendship. It was something more. Something much more. It was real love. A love between two lovers.

Chaeyoung ah! You pabo! Why didn’t you realize this sooner!

Tears started to stream down Chae’s face.

In Mina’s weak state, she felt Chae’s tears drip onto her face. Taken aback, Mina thought her love was being rejected by Chae.

But at that moment, Chae spoke up.

“I love you too, Mina unnie.”

Chae grasped onto Mina’s cold hands and leaned in slowly to kiss her lightly on the lips. They both closed their eyes. Their faces were so close together that they felt the warm air coming from each other’s nose.

A short moment later, Chae raised her head and smiled.

Mina slowly opened her eyes and Chae pet her head lightly.

Mina was so happy and relieved to hear that Chae felt the same way about her. Whether it was Chae’s true feelings or not didn’t matter to Mina. Chae’s acknowledgement and reciprocation of Mina’s love in that moment was enough for her to die peacefully. Mina had no more regrets now that she confessed her love to Chae.

In her final moment, Mina gathered all her strength.

“Th-thank you. Thank you for everything, Chaeyoung. You will forever be my Strawberry Princess.”

Chae smiled. “And you will forever be my Best Penguin, Mina.”

With those words from Chae, Mina closed her eyes for a final time as tears streamed down the sides of her face.

Chae’s tears dripped onto Mina’s tears, combining into one.

“Goodbye, My Love.”

============================

Funeral arrangements were made by Mina’s parents and all the TWICE members attended.

While in the cottage, Mina had told Chae that her wish was to have her ashes scattered in the Antarctic Ocean. She wanted to be as one with the penguins in Antarctica.

With Mina’s parents approval, Chae made the solo voyage to Antarctica by cargo ship that was transporting goods to Antarctica. The trip took longer by ship than by plane, but Chae wanted some alone time to think.

Chae only brought a backpack and an urn storing Mina’s ashes with her. On the lower part of Chae’s back, she had a new tattoo with the letters “MM” inked on it. The letters stood for Myoui Mina.

Upon landing, Chae arranged for transporation that brought her to the Antarctic Ocean. There was a long pathway made of rocks that stretched out from the shore to the water.

Chae walked to the end of the pathway with Ray. They were both well-equipped in heavy clothing to stay warm in this cold, secluded part of the world.

Chae knelt down and opened the urn with Mina’s ashes.

“See you in the next life, Mina. Best Penguin.”

With a bittersweet smile, Chae scattered Mina’s ashes into the ocean and the waves washed them away.

Ray watched on as the sun began to set.


End file.
